Oh how I love spring!!

Over at the Murray and friends home we have all been working very hard towards our goal of having a clean and functional yard. We have a lot of space but unfortunately a lot of work needs to be done. Weeds, grass, and wild fruitless berry bushes have taken over the yard in the last year or two, but we're taking control. So far we have cleared out enough space for a decent size vegetable garden and brought everything else down to ground level. In the next few days we are going to purchase a truckload of top soil, incorporate that along with mulch from my dad's garden and put into place some order for our garden. We already have plants about 1 1/2 months old, and I just planted seedlings. (I like to plant in 1 1/2 month increments to keep the harvesting even throughout summer and early fall). Our plant list is as follows...

• corn (sweet and yellow)
• tomatoes (basic red, heirloom, cherry, and golden)
• peppers (sweet, anaheim, jalapeno)
• yellow squash and zucchini
• melons (water melon and cantaloupe)
• beans (green, and yellow bush)
• lettuce
• basil
• chives
• onions (yellow, white, and green)
• pumpkin (jack-o-lantern and sweet sugar pie)
• strawberries
• Mandarin orange tree

Yes, we are very ambitious this growing season. As a helpful hint, if you have a small garden space, but love to eat vegetables; zucchini, tomatoes and green beans are the best to plant. One zucchini plant last year kept us more than satisfied, and the maintenance is a breeze. Keep in mind that one plant can have up to a 3-4 foot diameter. With green beans, you can have a few bush varieties in the same area, they're a much smaller plant, but if fed well and given lots of sunshine, will also produce very well and with little maintenance. Tomato plants are amazing, you buy one plant or even one seed and you will be amazed how many tomatoes you can get in one growing season.

I hope that you all consider at least one little plant, especially if you have kids. My nieces and nephews love gardening and I think it serves as a great educational tool. Good luck, and let me know if you have any questions, if I can't help I'll ask my dad, he knows everything :)

My biggest gardening influences...

• My Grandma Beck (who I've been missing very much lately)
• My Dad
• Martha Stewart :)

Martha Stewart has gardener, Jodi Capobianco, seen in the two pictures on the left, and she must just love her job. If I could garden and cook for a living, what a relaxing and wonderful life that would be. I commend the two for their work and the educational tools they have available to the public. Isn't their garden just beautiful!??! I love all these pictures. There will be pictures of our garden once we get everything settled.